Insurance regulator issues new norms for mediclaim policies

New norms by IRDAI will help policyholders who completely rely on insurance agents. Photo: iStock

New Delhi: The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has issued new norms, asking insurers to group together all mediclaim policy exclusions upfront in the policy document, according to a report in The Times of India.

The decision has been taken by IRDAI to help policyholders entirely dependent on what their insurance agents tell them, said the TOI report. The decision, says the newspaper, will prevent policyholders from completely relying on insurance agents, who sometimes overstate the coverage.

For employer-paid health insurance, IRDAI has insisted that the policy document must mention upfront co-payer limits if the policy is co-paid by the employees, added the report. The insurers are also required to update their website and mention the terms and conditions of every insurance product that is withdrawn or modified.

The report cites Puneet Sahni, SBI General Insurance head (health), confirming that the new IRDAI norms will help customers know the exact coverage limits of their policies. “If customer is not paid the claim within 90 days of reporting, the insurer has to pay the bank rate + 2% interest for every day of further delay,” Sahni was quoted as saying.